Ice-tongs



. (No Model.)

C. B. MGDONOUGH, S1. ICE TONGS.

No. 426,464. Patented Apr. 29, 1890-.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES B. MCDONOUGH, SE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ICE-TONGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 426,464, dated April 29, 1890.

Application filed June 24, 1889. Serial No. 315,365- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. MCDON- OUGH, Sn, a citizen of the United States, residing atPhiladelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ice-Tongs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain novel fea' turcs which refer especially to the construction or formation of ice-tongs, the object of which is to produce a simple and easily-open ated device which can be readily made of one piece of steel wire or rod, thereby producing tongs at a minimum expense.

The invention consists, essentially, in so bending a single piece of steel wire (though the material may be in any preferred form) in such a manner as to produce all the parts necessary to form a complete pair of ice-tongs, as will be hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference refer to corresponding parts inall the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of myinvention complete. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is'a side view showing the jaws unlocked and separated from each other, the pivotally-attached arm being omitted. Fig. 4: is a straight piece of wire, which, by being properly bent, forms the tongs.

Referring to the various parts of my invention by letter, A represents the coils of the wire made in the center of the wire, such coils or rings being intended for the purpose of closing the jaws.

a a designate the handles, which on being brought together by the grasp of the hand cause the jaws B B to open.

l) h are teeth to engage with the ice or other object to be lifted.

C C are the transversely-bended portions of the wire forming the junction between the handles a a and the jaws BB, as shown.

To construct my invention,Itake a straight piece of wire, as shown in Fig. 4, the length of which willbe determined by the size of the tongs to be produced, and form one or more circles or coils exactly in its middle. After forming one or more coils, the unbended portions, which are of equal length,are left to extend from the same side of the coils, so that they will be parallel with each other. At a proper distance from the coil I again bend each wire inwardly at right angles "with the unbended portion or handles a a, just referred to, thereby forming the transverse connections O G between the handles and the jaws. After forming the transverse connec tions 0 C, I again bend the remaining ends of the wire or rods gradually outward and then gradually inward, so that each jaw is formed so asto be somewhat semicircular in shape, though their form may be varied, as preferred. The extreme ends or jaws are then bent acutely inward and upward, forming the teeth I) I), such teeth being sharpened, so as to readily engage with the ice or other obj ect. After the wire or rod is bent as described, the ends will stand separated from each other, as shown in Fig. 3, and in order to lock them so that they will assume the position shown in Fig. 2, it will be necessary to reverse their position, which can be done by separating the handles a a sufficiently to enable the convex sides or outward-bended portion of the jaws to pass each other, when they can be made to assume a reversed position, thereby locking themselves securely together, as shown in Fig. 2. The object in thus locking the jaws is to prevent a lateral movement of same, thus holding them to their work. While in a locked position they can be additionally secured, if desired, by encircling the transverse connections 0 O with a suitable band or ring a, as shown in Fig. 1.

On the inner surface of the handles a, I provide a series of ratchets or notches cl, while to the other handle, near the bend forming the transverse section 0, I pivotally attach, as shown at d, the inwardly-reaching arm D, which is provided on each end with a fork to partly surround the handles. The object of this pivotally-attached inwardly-reachin g arm D is to firmly lock the teeth against the ice or other loadby having the free end of such arm to engage in the ratchets d on the opposite handle. Since arm D is of a sufficient length to reach obliquely across from one handle to the other, and as the lower end of such arm is pivotally connected to one of said handles, it will be seen that by pressing the upper or free end of such arm downward, so that it will assume a parallel position with the transverse sections 0 O, the teeth will be firmly locked against the ice or other load. The teeth may be unlocked by disengaging the free end of the arm D with the ratchets d and raising the.

same upward, so that the handles may be forced toward each other, and thereby opening the jaws.

Having thus described my invention, what'I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is 

